A secondary teachers’ union is calling for an end to “top-down management” in Scottish education.

Outgoing Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) president John Guidi will argue at the union’s annual congress tomorrow that subject specialists are the experts in teaching and learning.

He will say that they are best placed to deliver Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), not those at the “top” of hierarchical, inflexible structures in education.

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Mr Guidi, who is a physics teacher, will say: “If curriculum change was a battlefield, and tactics were deployed to win the battle, then we must move away from the top-down management style of field marshals dictating strategies and procedures for the troops on the ground. 

“The battlefield has changed in the 21st century. The strategy now will require specialist teams akin to the SAS delivering the appropriate changes for each specific subject in secondary schools, to prevent the mistakes that CfE introduced.”

Education in Scotland ‘must move away from top-down management’

One way to empower teachers, Mr Guidi will argue, is through the use of the new lead teacher posts that come into being this school year.

But use of these roles, he says, “is looking very limited”, given the “future financial constraints” that are “looming” as a result of the Covid pandemic.

Tes Scotland revealed in June that the “lead teacher role” - which will command a salary of more than £47,000 a year - was to become available in August to provide a promotion route for teachers who want to further their careers but who do not want to move into school management.

At the time, however, the SSTA general secretary, Seamus Searson, said the original vision that led to the creation of the role had been “stifled” and “watered down” by local authorities that have always had “an eye on the budget”.

Mr Guidi is also expected to use his speech to hit out at the way students were assessed in 2021, saying the “alternative certification model” (ACM) was “an exercise that should never be repeated for a multitude of reasons” - including the workload implications it had for staff and the “stress and pressure” it put on students.

He will say that in the future assessment “should incorporate some form of teacher judgement” but it must have “the minimum impact on workload” and be “fair and equitable to pupils”.

He will call on teachers to participate in the current reform process as the Scottish government takes forward its plans to replace the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and reform Education Scotland.

Mr Guidi describes it as a chance for “teachers to have a positive impact to shape Scottish education for many years to come”.

But he will argue that teachers should be partners in that process, not just stakeholders, and that any reform has to be about cultural change, not just changing the “signposts outside each agency office”.

He will say: “If any external agency is to change, then a change in culture is required. One possibility is to readdress the balance between support and scrutiny of teachers.

“For secondary teachers, scrutiny comes in many forms. From the school leadership, the local authority, the inspectorate and the SQA. Since the beginning of our first lockdown, there have been no inspections from any agency. Has the whole of Scottish education collapsed? No, it has not. It shows the Scottish education system is robust and effective under severe pressure and strain without the need of excessive scrutiny at different levels.”

After suspending inspection in March 2020 - and not carrying out any inspection last year - Education Scotland announced in September that inspection would get underway again this academic year.

Tes Scotland later revealed that the body plans to carry out over 200 inspections before the end of June.

The incoming SSTA president is Catherine Nicol, a science teacher based in North Ayrshire Council.